News page

Autumn 2008
The new term is in full swing and we welcome five new students to the Technicians' Academy, three from Treviglas and two from Tretherras and Truro College. The new year 12 students are the first to be enrolled in the ICT Academy which is yet another innovation for Treviglas where students are working on a course that will help get them into university. See the courses page for more information about this exciting development. This autumn also sees a record number of our students off to university (with some taking a gap year) to study courses as varied as computer games design, computer networking and security as well as more general computing courses. Best of luck to all our students, we hope you will visit us and inspire our current batch of students! This term sees students applying for university through UCAS and again we are hoping to see a record number of students gain entry onto Higher Education courses.

News Archive

July 2006
It's been a busy term! We have said goodbye to our year 13 students who have done really well, not just with their AVCE courses but also with their CCNA courses too. What a great bunch of students they have been, we wish them well in their news jobs and university courses. Just as year 13 left we said hello to our next batch of students in the form of another boot camp. Following on from the success of last year we ran a boot camp for our new students and they all managed to pass their Cisco IT Essentials 1 skills exam into the bargain, so well done! If anyone is interested in joining us in September please get in touch, we still have places available. We have said goodbye to Mr. Knott, who as well as being in charge of the Surf Academy for the last few years has been a Cisco CCNA tutor; I am sure the staff and students will miss Adrian, he has been an outstanding teacher so good luck Knotters in your new life in Oz!

February 2006
Our students have just sat the first round of external exams for AVCE and Applied ICT and are eagerly awaiting the results in March. Virtually all of our year 12 students have finished their IT Essentials I and CCNA1 courses which is a fantastic achievement. Several have started CCNA2 and are catching up with our year 13 students! This year more of our year 13 students have applied for university courses and several already have firm offers for courses including Computing and Games Design! We are accepting applications for students who wish to start in September, so if you are interested get in touch right away. We still have places available for adult learners who wish to study the Cisco CCNA course, classes run on Tuesday evening please get in touch for more information.

September 2005
Congratulations to our year 13 students, we had a 100% pass rate in AVCE ICT. Well done to all our students and good luck for the future. Three of our students have gone off to university courses and the rest either have jobs or are job seeking. Fourteen students have joined us in year 12.

July 2005
In a new venture we ran a week long 'Boot Camp' for year 11 students intending to return to the Technicians' Academy. Activities included building computers, carrying out upgrades and learning how computer components work. A number of students also passed their IT essentials 1 final exam. Well done to all those students who took part, as one commented 'it was hard work but good fun'.

June 2005
The University of Plymouth's Computing Department invited us back to enjoy a day of activities. This year the students created an FM transmitter electronic bugging device. The university staff were on hand to introduce the task and to provide expert assistance throughout the day. For many students this was their first experience of 'hands on' electronics but everyone got to grips with soldering and working out which resistors to use etc. It was a challenging day and the university staff were impressed by the students' abilities and enthusiasm. Click here for some pictures. Many thanks are due to the university staff, and to Ms. Horn who accompanied us on the trip.

Spring 2005
The students have just finished off their AVCE coursework, both staff and students breath a sigh of relief, just a couple of exams to go now. Two of our students have landed jobs - as school ICT technicians, Martin here at Treviglas, and Chris at Wadebridge School. Several other students have university offers subject to them achieving the necessary grades and the rest are job hunting. We are planning a trip to the University of Plymouth in June with our year 12 students, more news on that soon. Our students continue to help out in the local primary schools and will be doing some more work over the next half term helping to upgrade and support computer systems in our feeder schools. Work experience will happen in the first two weeks of July and our students are trying hard to find work experience placements, if you can help or know anyone who can offer a placement please get in touch! We are planning a new event for our year 11 students moving into the Technicians' Academy in September - a Boot Camp. This will not involve 5am starts or 20km hikes across Dartmoor but will involve plenty of PC skills building, networking and introducing the students to the world of hands on learning. If you are interested in joining the Technicians' Academy then please fill in our application form as soon as possible, we would like any students who are joining us in September to attend the boot camp, it will be both educational and enjoyable. If you are an adult learner looking to improve your career options why not enroll in our Cisco CCNA class on Tuesday evenings, please contact the course tutor Mr. Knott for further details, you don't have to wait until September to start enroll now and you can get started straight away.

November 2004
The students are now helping the ICT technicians with various support tasks around the college, including repairing faulty hardware, unjamming printers and sorting logon problems. The students get to carry out real support tasks and put their practical skills to the test. Our students are also starting to work with local primary schools, we have had a couple of visits so far and more will follow. The primary schools are an important part of the students work and they provide an excellent service to the schools.

Mr. Callaghan is running a Wednesday afternoon enhancement class in digital photography, Mr. Baron has also started a class in PC hardware (IT essentials 1) running in enhancement sessions. There are still places available in our Tuesday evening Cisco CCNA class, please contact the course tutor Mr. Knott for further details.

September 2004
Fourteen new students have started in the Technicians' Academy, and fourteen have joined us for their second year. We have expanded into another classroom to accommodate the extra students so we now have a classroom and a lab room at our disposal. The year 2 students have made an excellent start on the Cisco IT Essentials II course. We are currently in the process of applying for VUE testing status in order for us to be able to offer A+ and Cisco exam testing. We are once again offering an evening class in the Cisco CCNA, this course runs on Tuesday evenings during term time from 7pm to 9.30pm, if you are interested in this course please contact the course tutor Mr. Knott for further details.

July 2004
This month we are playing host to a number of primary school children. The children are learning to create web pages using DreamWeaver and Flash, you can see the pages by clicking here.

June 2004
May was a busy month for AVCE assessment and the students have been working flat out to complete assignments. The students have all created websites for a variety of clients including St. Columb Major School where three of our students are providing ongoing technical support. The students are continuing to provide technical support to other primary schools in the area. This month the students are due to take their final IT Essentials 1 exam; two students have already passed this course and are ready to prepare for their A+ qualification. The instructors have now had their CCNA Version 3 training so we are moving across to the Version 3 of the CCNA which includes work on wireless networking. We are hoping to involve the students in setting up wireless networking around the college. Mr. Baron & Mr. Callaghan will be undertaking their IT essentials 2 training in July so they will be ready to teach this new course in September.

March 2004 - On the 10th March the Technicians' Academy visited the Computing Department at the University of Plymouth. We spent the morning in an electronics lab making a network cable tester, which the students we able to take home with them. Click here for details and photos of the visit.

February 2004 - New website design courtesy of one of our technicians, Mr. Bartholemew. We are now following the iPRO course which is proving popular with staff and students. The students are involved in providing regular technical support to local primary schools; we have students providing support in three local schools and we hope to expand this service as time permits. The students have been providing a varied service from software support to helping set up a new network and they have gained some excellent work experience. The academy is also involved in the planning stage of the development of a cybercafe in the local area, visit this site again soon for more information about this.

December 2003 - During this busy month the Technicians' Academy students worked really hard to help make the college's Charity Week a success. The students help to raise money by setting up and running a computer gaming session each lunchtime. The students were also responsible for setting up staging for events and on the last day of term providing technical support with staging, sound and they provided a superb PowerPoint based backdrop to the show. The students proved themselves to be invaluable and helped to raise an impressive sum of money for our nominated charities.

October 2003 - We are up and running with 19 students aged from 16 to 18. It has been a hectic start to the year but everyone has made a real effort to get the academy up and running. We are already running a helpdesk facility for staff and students which is proving very popular; students from the academy are staffing the helpdesk and providing front line support for hardware and software problems. All the students have made a really positive start to the course and are enjoying the challenges they face on a daily basis. We have a number of exciting projects in the pipeline including helping to set up a community cybercafe, building websites for local organisations and expanding our helpdesk outside of Treviglas. Keep coming back for news of these exciting projects and for more information about the courses we will be offering next year.